Tennessee Report

Hot spots keep state's economy rolling

By Candy McCampbell

Even though economic forecasts say construction job growth in Tennessee is expected to slow to 1.1 percent this year, there continues to be high levels of building, particularly in Nashville and its suburbs, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Hendersonville and Gallatin.

"It's booming," says Pete Dickson, president of Associated Builders and Contractors of Middle Tennessee in Nashville. "Designers report plenty of work coming in. In fact, they're overwhelmed."

Among the projects under construction are the $80 million Icon condominiums, the $100 million Nissan headquarters in Franklin, a $30 million interchange on Interstate 65 nearby, the $50 million Avenue Shopping Center in Murfreesboro and the $39 million airport terminal renovation.

Also this year, look for the start of the Nashville Sounds' new $43 million baseball stadium.

"This (Nashville area) has been a profitable sector longer than anyone thought it would be," says Connie Wallace, executive vice president of the Tennessee Chapter, American Institute of Architects.

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Roger Tuder, executive director of Associated General Contractors of East Tennessee, says the Chattanooga area is also experiencing a robust construction environment, and he credits "a strong economy" for an abundance of public- and private-sector projects.

The biggest Chattanooga-area project by far is Blue Cross Blue Shield's 900,000-sq-ft headquarters and 4,100-vehicle parking garage. Also under way are expansions at two hospitals, 890,000 sq. ft. of new schools and eight new churches.

In Knoxville, work continues on Interstate 40 as part of the state's costliest-ever highway project. Also, the city's downtown is getting a facelift with a $27 million CityView at Riverwalk condo/marina development and construction of the new Interstate 475 may soon be started.

It's not as bright in the Memphis area.

"We're looking at a slowdown in 2007 and to pick back up in 2008," says Bob Rose, executive director of Associated General Contractors of West Tennessee.

The outlook for Memphis could change if Toyota selects a west Tennessee or eastern Arkansas site for a new assembly plant.

Following are a few of the significant projects under construction:

Signature Tower, Nashville. By mid-2009, the Southeast's tallest building will be a 65-story structure in downtown Nashville with 400 condo units atop a 10-story Kimpton Hotel.

Turner Construction of New York has the $275 million contract and broke ground early this year on the 1,052-ft-tall reinforced-concrete tower.

It's a tight spot for construction, especially since the job involves excavating about 90 ft. deep into rock for the seven-story parking garage and foundation, says Ed Baldwin, purchasing manager.

The site also has churches on three sides and borders a major throughfare on the fourth.

Getting all the rock out will require both power equipment and blasting, Baldwin says.

"There a lot of constraints involved - noise, damage to adjacent structures and to underground utilities - but I think they can be mitigated," he adds.

Morgan County Correctional Complex, Wartburg. Bell & Associates Construction of Brentwood, Tenn., currently holds a $151 million contract to build a 500,000-sq-ft, 20-building prison in Wartburg, Tenn.

Included in the job are 1,430 maximum-, medium- and minimum-security beds and administration, visitation, medical, food service and support buildings. Two other buildings onsite will be renovated, totaling almost 50,000 sq ft.

Completion of the maintenance building in January allowed demolition of the existing maintenance building and start of the food service-dining-laundry building.

"We accomplished a major milestone - to get all the concrete slabs poured before winter set in," says Kevin Keller, project manager with Bell.

The cells are prefabricated units that are trucked in and lifted in place. Crews on site complete water and electrical connections once the units are in place.

Gateway Regional Medical Center, Clarksville. BE&K Building Group of Brentwood, Tenn., topped out the steel on this $120 million, 503,000-sq-ft complex in early January, six months after starting.

"We have had good weather and have some great subs," said Jason Adams, project manager for BE&K.

Work on the five-story building started in July and completion is expected in summer 2008.

Adams says that while some crews were still working on the first-floor steel, others were framing interior and exterior walls on three floors of the tower.

The footprint for the first floor is 270,000 sq ft, while the upper floors are about 55,000 sq ft. The first floors will house an emergency room with 37 exam rooms and 12 operating rooms.

The building sits on stone columns with spread footings and high-pressure cap grouting foundations.

Adams says materials needed include 3,100 tons of structural steel, 145 tons of rebar and 11,340 cu yds of concrete.

I-40 near I-275 to Cherry Street, Knoxville. Bell & Associates Construction LP of Brentwood, Tenn., formerly Ray Bell Construction, is widening I-40 from two lanes to three in this $104.7 million job, a joint venture with Blalock and Sons of Sevierville, Tenn.

The interstate reconstruction contract is the state's largest road job, topping Bell's $85 million contract for an adjacent jobsite.

The entire project, to finish in 2009, is being built under a Tennessee Department of Transportation process that allows road closures to speed work. It's expected to cut almost two years from the timeline.

Started in June, the contract also includes widening two bridges and replacing 11 more, says Jeremy Mitchell, project manager for Bell & Associates.

The road changes also necessitate about $3.6 million in utility relocation.

A total of 100,000 sq ft of noise wall and 70,000 sq ft of retaining wall are going up. Workers are moving more than 500,000 cu yds of dirt for road work and drainage and bringing in another 100,000 cu yds, Mitchell says.

Cofferdam Construction, Chickamauga Lock, Chattanooga. Work is expected to start this month on a 1,060- by 3,100-ft cofferdam at Chickamauga Dam on the Tennessee River near Chattanooga. The cofferdam is needed to construct a new 100- by 600-ft lock structure, which will replace an existing 1940s-era lock.

C. J. Mahan Construction of Grove City, Ohio, has the $82.9 million contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the lock for the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Mahan will set circular templates made of H-piles, then drive pieces of sheet pile, which are then welded to the templates, says Jason Pieton, Mahan's project manager.

Crews will operate from "at least a half dozen barges," he said. The cofferdam will displace about 1 million gallons of water.

The river's barge traffic will dictate some schedules, Pieton says. "We can't hinder barge traffic at all," he says. "We have to work around it."

Encore Condominium Tower, Nashville. Building a 20-story high-rise in downtown Nashville means working with certain limitations.

"We have lane closures when we pour concrete," says Bob Watson, senior project manager for Brasfield & Gorrie Inc. of Birmingham.

So pours for the $55 million, 580,000-sq-ft tower are usually about 2 a.m.-4 a.m. or 6 p.m. Crews also got a street closure while installing an electrical duct bank.

The building covers 40,000 sq ft, roughly half the block it sits on. The ground floor will include 20,000 sq ft of retail.

The next six levels are a parking garage and affordable housing units on one side. The building narrows to a 20,000 sq. ft. floor plate above the seventh floor, location of the pool and amenity deck, Watson says.

The building is post-tensioned concrete, on a drill-pier foundation. The 333 units will have floor-to-ceiling glass and many ceilings will be exposed concrete.

FedEx Airbus Hangar Facility, Memphis. The first hangar in this hemisphere for the Airbus A-380 became a maintenance hangar for the Boeing 777 after FedEx changed aircraft manufacturers last fall. Hunt Construction Group of Dallas is building the $75 million, 281,000-sq-ft project. It includes a 140,000-sq-ft maintenance hangar, a 73,000-sq-ft office building, a 48,000-sq-ft warehouse and a 20,000-sq.-ft. shop, says Benton Hagler, senior estimator.

The hangar will have a 400-ft clear span with roof trusses that are 45 ft deep. The 145-ft-tall structure will measure 400 by 310 ft.

"The biggest difference in this and other hangars is the span and the height," Hagler says.

The foundation is drill-pier footings and concrete piers around the building edge. The reinforced slab will be 16 in. thick. Exterior walls are metal. The hangar can house one of the big planes or two conventional jets. Construction started early this year, with an April 2008 completion.

Hill Center at Green Hills, Nashville. The Hill Center at Green Hills, a $70 million mixed-use lifestyle project, is replacing an old 1960s strip shopping center that is in the middle of a busy suburban shopping/restaurant area.

Hoar Construction of Birmingham is the construction manager for the 222,000-sq-ft project that includes 162,000 sq ft of retail and restaurant space and 60,000 sq ft of office space.

Workers had to demolish the old center and some outlying buildings before construction could start. That included excavation of more than 60,000 cu yds of rock to build the parking garage.

The buildings are being constructed on both sides of a central street that cuts through the 10-acre site.

Construction started in September 2005 and should be completed later this year.

Healthways Inc. Headquarters, Franklin. Healthways Inc., formerly American Healthways, will move about 600 employees to its 275,000-sq-ft headquarters and is providing a 585-car parking garage for their vehicles.

Brasfield & Gorrie of Birmingham has the $36 million contract for the building shell - with 61,000 sq ft of basement parking - and detached garage. Interior tenant build-out is under a separate contract.

The five-story building has a spread footings foundation and workers hit rock at an average 3-5 ft., says David Gordon, Brasfield & Gorrie project manager.

"The exterior skin will be a combination of architectural precast, punched opening windows and curtain wall systems," he adds

Start date was July, and shell completion is scheduled for January 2008.